The Curse of the Albino Peacock
by Lexie the Dreamer
Summary: One-shot. "That peacock is staring at me." "No, it isn't." "Yes, it is. And it's making plans to kill me in my sleep." Draco/Astoria


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Thank you **to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it :)

**A/N 1:** This is just something silly that popped into my head after I re-read Deathly Hallows; I had forgotten that the Malfoys have albino peacocks in the gardens. Enjoy!

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"That peacock is staring at me."

Draco looked towards where she was pointing and snorted, "No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is. And it's making plans to kill me in my sleep," Astoria declared in a cross tone.

"What? Where do you get these ideas?" he asked in befuddlement.

"Look at that nasty glare in its beady little eyes! And its behaviour is entirely suspicious."

Draco furrowed his brow and moved to lie down on his side.

"I knew there had to be a reason my mother never allowed me to eat chocolate after midnight," he said and peeked inside the picnic basket.

"I'm sure the chocolate is innocent," she replied and hid the box of chocolates underneath the fabric of her robes before he had any ludicrous ideas of taking it away from her.

Draco glanced around them but couldn't find the box anywhere. He looked up at Astoria who was sitting up with her back ramrod straight, an exaggerated innocent look on her face.

"You could have at least given me one more," he complained, pouting a little.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She grinned and he rolled his eyes.

The weather was mild that summer night. There were fireflies flying all around them and the flowers seemed to glow with some kind of sparkly dust. There was a fountain nearby, the sound of the water contributing to create a soothing, peaceful atmosphere.

Draco had surprised her with a midnight picnic in the gardens of the Malfoy estate to celebrate their third month as a married couple and Astoria had fallen a little more in love with him at the romantic gesture. She had been right in the middle of formulating a plan to seduce him and have him right there in the garden when that bloody peacock had settled itself some feet away from them.

And hadn't moved since, much to her irritation.

"I think it killed someone and came here to gloat that I'm next," she said huffily and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"That's the strangest thing I've ever heard." He sniggered and then chuckled at her outraged glare. "And I've heard some very strange things throughout my life, believe me."

She ignored his mirth and kept eyeing the white peacock with distrust.

"I mean, honestly. Peacocks? _Albino_ peacocks? Are they just for decoration or do they serve some kind of purpose?"

"They guard the Manor," he replied as if it were obvious.

"And if there happen to be intruders?"

"They attack, I think." He shrugged. No one had ever tried to break in so he wasn't sure.

Astoria rolled her eyes and her voice dripped with sarcasm as she spoke, "Thanks, Draco. I _really_ needed to hear that. Now I'm positive the damn beast is going to attempt to murder me."

He laughed and she threw a grape which hit him right in the eye.

"Ouch!"

"You're not going to be laughing when you find my bloodied and mangled body in the morning, courtesy of Mr. Peacock."

"For Merlin's sake, Astoria! What have you been reading? Muggle horror stories or something?" He appeared to be both disturbed and disgusted.

She just muttered "Hmph!" and took delicate little bites out of a cracker, deciding to ignore him.

Draco had never liked to be ignored and so he flicked a piece of cheese onto her robes to get a rise out of her.

"Draco!" She pursed her lips in disapproval when he smirked at her. She was going to attack him with the rest of the grapes when he grabbed her wrists and pulled her to straddle his body. "Draco!" she cried again.

"You're supposed to sound wanton, not frustrated or admonishing," he teased, grey eyes shining with amusement.

"Shut up and kiss me," was her reply.

He was going to kiss her but then noticed a blur of white from the corner of his eye. He glanced above her shoulder and Astoria was about to ask him why he was wasting time instead of snogging her when he said in a quiet voice, "That peacock is staring at us."

"I told you so!" She smacked his chest and rolled off of him to find the white peacock still looking in their direction. "What does it want?"

"I don't know. We should probably head back," he said and started putting things back inside the picnic basket.

"Afraid of a little peacock, Mr. Malfoy?" she taunted as she got up and smoothed her hands down the front of her robes to straighten them.

"I don't fancy kissing in front of a curious animal, _Mrs. Malfoy_. And I've found the chocolates." He smirked and put the box inside the basket before she could grab it. She glared at him but he gave her a wink so she sighed in mock-exasperation and linked her arm through his.

As they walked away from their picnic site Astoria turned her head to glance at the animal.

The peacock was not only staring; it seemed to be glaring at her.

A crazy idea popped into her head: no one had seen Pansy Parkinson since the end of the War…

A long time ago there had been a powerful wizard named Bluebeard who had developed a spell to turn people he hated into animals so he could eat them later. Astoria had read somewhere that Muggles knew a different version of this story but that wasn't important right now.

Could the peacock be Pansy under a curse? Pansy, whom everyone thought had died somewhere in the castle during the final battle…

Astoria raised an eyebrow and asked, "Those peacocks aren't people under curses, are they?"

"What?" He looked back at the peacock and then said, "I have to tell my father to get rid of them. No more midnight picnics while they're here."

She patted his arm and said solemnly, "It's alright. I'll protect you from the big, nasty peacocks."

"This is your fault! You put these ideas in my head!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at her as the picnic basket dangled on his arm.

She wanted to laugh but didn't because those peacocks were really disturbing and creepy.

"Perhaps it really was the chocolate," she offered. "We'll probably forget all about this tomorrow."

"I hope so," he replied. "C'mon, let's go."

"Oh, wait. I forgot my cloak."

She went back to retrieve it and the stupid peacock still had its beady gaze trained on her.

"I'm on to you, Pansy. Remember, I've got a wand and you don't," she threatened before putting on her cloak. "Hmph."

Astoria ran over to Draco and he took her hand as they finally walked up the path that led to the Manor.

If Astoria hadn't been filling her head with ideas of assassination attempts by albino peacocks and if Draco paid more attention to witches' fashion, they would have noticed that her hat sported a single, beautifully coloured peacock feather.

The albino peacock had just been jealous.

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THE END

**A/N 2:** Remember: no chocolate after midnight or you'll start to believe your pet is conspiring against you ;)

I love peacocks; I think they're beautiful. But has anyone else noticed that they seem to glare at you? Lol


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